I know that there's a number of photographers and other knowledgeable persons on this board who love cameras, so I wanted to get your opinions on the Sony Alpha NEX-5 with 18-55mm Lens (http://www.sonystyle.com/webapp/wcs/stores/servlet/ProductDisplay?catalogId=10551&storeId=10151&langId=-1&productId=8198552921666192716).

I've been in the market for a nice camera for a while, but I really didn't wanna lug around a big, heavy DSLR. I went on a hike the other day with a friend who had a Canon Rebel XTi and it was difficult for him to hike lugging around all of his "lite" equipment, with a brick dangling around his neck. And he kept on asking me to hold his backpack while he took some pics, which was kindof annoying. That experience, along with a few other experiences lugging around DSLR equipment turned me off of getting a DSLR.

So I started checking out the "micro-four-thirds" cameras, but the Olympus PEN EP2 and Panasonic Lumix G-Micro series didn't impress me much when I went to play with them in the store. They both seemed to be kindof sluggish. The EP2 has some cool features, but overall, the camera was kindof big and clunky... The G-Micro series is a little sleeker, but is still kindof big and clunky too. Both of the GUI's on both cameras are simple enough, but I didn't really care for either (although I do prefer the EP2's over the G-Micro Series.)

Then I found the Sony NEX-5. I got to test out a NEX-3 in the SonyStyle store this weekend and absolutely loved it - the NEX-5 is pretty much the same thing, but with 1080 video instead of the 720 offered on the NEX-3. It is quick and responsive, and the GUI is a little burdensome, but it's much better than the EP2 or the G-Micro series. Plus the APS-C image sensor on the Sony is about twice as big as the micro-four-thirds sensor - I could really tell the difference when looking at the low light pics, but then again, I was looking at the pics on the camera display and not on a high-res screen.